Response Patterns Materials-Based Research
Response Patterns was undertaken with the support of the Center for Craft's Materials-Based Research Grant, 2019, to invent environmentally responsive embellishment methods for textile. The team leveraged interdisciplinary experience—Yuchen Zhang’s knowledge in material science and interactive technology, Travis Fitch’s methodical study of geometry and digital fabrication, and Anette Millington’s expertise in textile art and embellishment. Processes included silk screening with photochromic pigment, and 3D printing. We see this use of new materials and technology as a natural progression in textile craft - which has historically imbued place into both it’s materiality and imagination.
Researchers: Anette Millington, Travis Fitch, Yuchen Zhang
Research Assistants: Erin McQuarrie, Liz Sandler
embellishment Systems
We undertook the project with a shared provocation- how might design activate and transform the experience of place? We hexplored how new materials and technologies add time-based, environmentally responsive behavior to textile surfaces. Central questions we investigated were: How can light and weather become a direct collaborator in the design of textile surfaces? What is the communication potential of environmentally responsive materials? How do changing technologies and fabrication tools re-contextualize craft based processes?
Our collaboration began with collective brainstorming, imagining ways to add responsive qualities to embellishment. This shared imagining engaged our range of experience with craft and technology. We mapped behaviors of interest in speculative diagrams, including transformations in color and shape, produced in response to UV light, heat and moisture. The broad range of possibilities guided the material studies we pursued and demonstrated potentials for future projects.
Diagram Credits: Travis Fitch
Research made possible by the Center for Craft's 2019 Materials-Based Research Grant